Welcome to Day 10 of 31 Simple Ways to Embrace Lopsided Living!

Several years ago I finally had to admit a harsh truth about myself:  I’m a control freak.

My need for perfection, to be seen as capable, to never disappoint, and the desire for approval were destroying me … and they were costing me more than realized.

I spent a lot of time studying Scripture relating to biblical womanhood, priorities, and my identity in Christ. In fact, I spent the better part of two years digging deep into those passages and looking at the words and phrases, comparing them to other passages of Scripture about women.

What I learned changed me. By October of 2007, the year I turned 36, the Lord had guided me to a new understanding of what it means to be a woman who fears the Lord and how that needed to play out in my every day, very real life.

One of the biggest lessons I learned was simple {and yet incredibly hard to do!} and it’s the focus of today’s post …

Lopsided Living Recognizes Adding Anything Affects Everything

This one is a game changer, y’all!

When you read the title, you probably thought one of two things, “No, it doesn’t!” or “So what?” I get it, I really do. Because 10 years ago I would have thought one or both of those things myself.  We don’t think about how everything we do affects everything else — at least we don’t think about it a lot.

But it does.

The Lord showed me how every time I said yes to something, even something small, it would affect everything else I did. If I said yes to making cupcakes for my daughter’s class at school, it would have an impact on the other plans I had for that day.  If I agreed to teach a Sunday School class, that time to prepare would have to come from somewhere.

My time is finite, no matter how much I wish it were not.

And yours is as well.

This isn’t to say don’t add anything. Let’s face it, that’s not really an option for most of us. Our days get full and there are many times when we don’t have the final say in what gets added.

This is less about what we add or what gets added and more about recognizing the ways additions affect not just on our available time — but they can also have serious impacts on our emotional, mental, spiritual, and physical state as well.

We’ll be looking more closely at HOW we can make God-honoring decisions about what we add to our schedules later in this series. But today, since it’s Monday, it seems a good time to invite you to look over what you will add to your calendar this week and begin thinking about how it will affect the other commitments and priorities you have.

So that’s your simple way for today:

BEFORE YOU ADD ANYTHING TO YOUR PLANS FOR THIS WEEK, IDENTIFY THE WAYS DOING SO WILL IMPACT THE REST OF YOUR PLANS AND TIME.

Here’s what that looks like for me — I have 21 days to finish writing the manuscript for Praying for Girls. That is the number one priority for me this week {and honestly, the rest of October}. That means anything that comes up during my prime writing time needs serious evaluation before saying yes. Basically, I know right now I can’t add anything new to the calendar this week without it compromising my writing time.

So, what about you … how does adding anything affect everything in your life?

#LopsidedLiving truth: Adding anything affects everything. Share on X

Living lopsided,

Teri Lynne

Yesterday’s post: We are works in process {and that’s okay!}

Coming tomorrow: Embrace the season of life you’re in right now

Index to every post in this series here.